REVIEW: Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day

This past Thursday I got in touch with my non-existent Irish side, celebrating St. Patrick's Day the old fashioned way: with plenty of Guinness.  My fiancee, a couple of friends, and myself settled  in for the night with a viewing of Boondocks Saints II: All Saints Day.  This sequel to the 1999 cult original was at first predicted to get stuck with a straight-to-DVD release.  However, it managed to make its way into theaters in 2009 and was immediately panned by both viewers and critics alike.  As a fan of the original, I avoided paying to see this in theaters.  I didn't want a shoddy and poorly-written sequel to ruin my perceptions of the first film (which, to be fair, is schlocky and gratuitous... but it's well-executed gratuitous schlock).  In the end, curiosity got the best of us, and we prepared ourselves for the worst as the opening credits rolled.

Erin go blugh.

Boondock Saints II finds the vigilante MacManus brothers (Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus) hiding out in Ireland with their father.  Almost immediately they discover that they've been framed for the murder of a Boston priest, and they return to the states to clear their name with a vengeance.   Flannery and Reedus are still a delight in their roles, and their banter throughout the film will please fans of the first film.  The movie makes many nods and winks at the original film, small rewards for fans willing to sit through this train wreck. 

 The thing that is most noticeable about Boondock Saints II is how hard it tries to be over-the-top through its dialogue and action scenes.  The first movie was edgy... this one is offensive and immersion-breaking.  The movie relies heavily on tired stereotypes, and many returning supporting characters appear seem like caricatures of their original iterations. To keep things interesting through the painful dialogue, we played a drinking game along with the film: take a drink every time an overtly sexist or racist comment/stereotype appeared onscreen.  I gave up on trying to keep pace halfway through the film. 

In the first film, the stylized, slow-mo action sequences were relatively believable: the MacManus brothers have to plan ahead, improvise, and are seriously injured in most of their fights.  In Boondock Saints II, the brothers seem simply immune bullets, standing out in the open and firing wildly around while the bullet-sponge thugs they battle die almost as soon as they appear onscreen.  There's no sense of danger or concern for the brothers watching the scenes.  Most of the bad guys don't even raise their guns before they crumple to the floor bleeding.

One of the best characters in the original was Paul Smecker (Willem Defoe).  In the sequel, the writers shoehorn in a "prodigy" student of Smecker's as his substitute in the film.  Eunice is played by Julie Benz, and her performance (particularly in her early scenes) hurts the film considerably.  Her southern drawl and attitude seem forced and unnecessary; she comes off as a weak attempt to add some sex appeal to the testosterone-heavy script.  One would assume that from a writing perspective the only reason to add in this character, instead of having Defoe simply reprise his role from the first film, would be because they couldn't get Defoe to sign on for the sequel.  However, Defoe inexplicably appears in the last scene of the movie, revealing that his death was a ruse and raising serious questions as to why writer/director Troy Duffy would leave him out of the rest of the film.


Boondock Saints II is a severe disappointment that tries too hard (and in all the wrong ways) to capture the spirit of its predecessor.  While there are some good moments between the MacManus brothers, the horribly inconsequential plot, focus on ancillary characters, and cringe-worthy writing make this movie not worth seeing.  For fans of the first film who have been wondering whether they should check out the sequel: don't.